Darkness and Dawn; Or, Scenes in the Days of Nero. An Historic Tale

by F. W. Farrar

  CHAPTER LI

  _AN INFERNAL SUGGESTION_

  ‘I, under fair pretence of friendly ends, And well-placed words of glozing courtesy, Baited with reasons not unplausible, Wind me into the easy-hearted man, And hug him into snares.’

  MILTON, _Comus_.

  Nero was harassed night and day by a new terror. The grand spectacleof Rome in flames, and the touches of local colouring, æsthetic andrealistic, which it had enabled him to add to his poem on the Takingof Troy, would have been dearly purchased if they were to involvethe forfeiture of his throne and life. Yet the sinister attitude ofthe people could not be mistaken, nor their menacing murmurs hushed.Tigellinus began to doubt whether the allegiance of the Prætorians,Germans and other foreign mercenaries as many of them were, wouldremain unshaken. They showed inclination to sympathise with theproletariat in their dangerous disaffection.

  Except Tigellinus and Poppæa there was no one to whom the Emperordared open his secrets. Both of them were closeted with him, butcould suggest nothing to awaken him from the abject alarm intowhich he was sinking. It was evident that alike the people and theSenate held him responsible for the late conflagration, and it wasimpossible to detect the author of the rumours which had made hisactions the common theme of Roman gossip. The only way to savehimself from the hatred which threatened to destroy him, would be todivert the suspicion of the masses into some other channel. But whomcould Nero accuse with any semblance of probability? Tigellinus wasunscrupulous and Poppæa shrewd, but they knew not what to advise.

  While they were thus consulting, a slave announced that Aliturus, theJewish pantomimist, accompanied by the High Priest of Jerusalem and adistinguished Rabbi, desired an audience.

  ‘Aliturus is welcome,’ said Nero; ‘but I do not want to be troubledby his countrymen.’

  ‘Give them an audience, Cæsar,’ said Poppæa, who was secretlyaddicted to Judaism, and had even been admitted as a proselyte ofthe gate. ‘Aliturus presented them to me at Puteoli. They are worthconciliating. This High Priest is so rich that his mother (I am told)once presented him with a tunic worth a hundred minæ, and he onlydeigned to wear it once. You know the prophecy of the astrologer,that you are to have an Oriental Empire, and perhaps to reign atJerusalem.’

  Nero consented, and Aliturus, who was always among his favourites,was ushered into his presence. The actor wore the ordinary dress ofa wealthy Roman youth, but the two friends who accompanied him werein the costume of the East, with rich robes and silken turbans. Theelder of the two was an old man, whose white beard flowed in wavesover his breast, and whose sumptuous dress and haughty bearingaccorded with the dignity, if not with the humility, of theHigh-Priesthood. The younger was a man not yet thirty years old,splendidly handsome and full of the genius of his race.

  ‘Welcome, Aliturus,’ said the Empress. ‘Cæsar, this is the venerableIshmael ben Phabi, High Priest of the Jews, on whose ephod has hungthe twelve-gemmed oracle, and who has worn the golden robes; and thisis Josephus of Jerusalem, son of the Priest Matthias, a Priest, aRabbi, and a soldier.’

  The High Priest and the Rabbi bowed almost to the ground, andkissed the hand which Nero extended to them as he asked them on whatbusiness they had come to consult him.

  ‘Half of our task in Rome has failed,’ said the High Priest. ‘Wecame, commissioned by our nation to impeach Paulus of Tarsus, aringleader of the Galileans, for a sedition which he stirred up inJerusalem; but while our shipwreck detained us your clemency hasacquitted the criminal. We came also to entreat the liberation ofsome of our priests who are here in prison, sent hither on frivolouscharges by the Procurator Festus.’

  ‘I will intercede for them,’ said Poppæa. ‘Those Procurators of Judæaconstantly maltreat an innocent and venerable people.’

  ‘The last Procurator is of your appointment, Poppæa,’ said theEmperor. ‘I only nominated Gessius Florus, because you are a friendof his wife Cleopatra.’

  ‘And he is the worst of them all,’ whispered Josephus to Aliturus.‘He takes bribes from the bandits. He impales Jews who are knightsand Roman citizens, and he would not desist, though Berenice wentbefore his tribunal barefooted and with dishevelled hair.’

  ‘I have no doubt that Florus will be kinder than his predecessors,’said Poppæa. ‘The others have stirred up against Rome the anger ofthe Jewish God.’

  ‘Who is that?’ asked Nero. ‘Is it Moses?’

  ‘Moses,’ said Ishmael, ‘was a great law-giver, to whom was grantedmore than human wisdom; but we worship not a mortal man. Our God isHe who made heaven and earth.’

  ‘Anchialus?’ asked Nero.[94]

  ‘Anchialus is some gentile scoff which I understand not,’ said theHigh Priest, with dignity.

  Nero whispered to Poppæa a line of Lucan’s:--

  ‘Judæa, votaress of a dubious God.’

  ‘Suffer _me_ to answer,’ said Josephus; ‘and as the Emperor islearned in Greek I will answer in the line of an oracle given by theClarian Apollo himself:--

  ‘“Deem that the God Supreme, the Lord of Lords, is IAO”’[95]

  ‘And do you mean to say that this God of yours--Iaô, as you callhim--can injure Rome?’

  ‘He punishes all who insult His majesty,’ answered the young Rabbi,‘and He blesses those that honour Him. Cæsar, in his wisdom, knowshow Pompeius burst into our Holy of Holies, and found that we didnot worship, as men lyingly said, the image of an ass, but that theshrine was dark and empty. But from that time forth, Pompeius wasoverwhelmed in that sea of ruin which flung him, a headless corpse,on the shore of Alexandria. Heliodorus, the treasurer of SeleucusPhilopator, was scourged out of our Holiest by a vision of angels.But Alexander the Great bowed before our High Priest Iaddua, and Godgave him unexampled victories. And Julius, your mighty ancestor, wasdear to our race, and he prospered through our prayers.’

  ‘Yea,’ said the High Priest, ‘and when the Cæsar Gaius would haveprofaned our Temple with a statue of himself, our God smote him withmadness, and ere a year was over the dagger reached his heart.’

  Nero had fits of superstition, and he listened with greedy ears.‘I thought,’ he said, ‘that you Jews hated all mankind exceptyourselves.’

  ‘We hate them not,’ answered Ishmael. ‘On the contrary, we pray forall the seventy nations of mankind, and we offer daily sacrifices fortheir welfare. If those sacrifices ceased, the world would perish.’

  ‘Listen, Cæsar, to the High Priest’s words,’ said Poppæa, ‘and setthese priests free.’

  ‘What Poppæa asks is done,’ said Nero. ‘But,’ he continued, turningto the Jews, ‘is not your nation seditious and turbulent?’

  ‘It is not,’ answered Ishmael. ‘We never stir unless we are wronged.We would fain sit in peace, each under his own vine and his ownfig-tree. We offer sacrifices in our Temple for the Emperor’s safety.’

  ‘Nero must not confuse us with the Christians,’ said Josephus,quietly. ‘The Romans and Greeks have not yet learnt the differencebetween us; and all _their_ crimes are set down to us.’

  ‘The Christians?’ said Nero. ‘Who are they? I have heard of them asmalefactors, the scum of the earth, but always thought they were asect of Jews.’

  ‘Forbid it Heaven!’ said the High Priest, vehemently. ‘They worship acrucified _mesîth_, who deceived the people. Some of them, I confesswith anguish, are of our race, but far more are Gentiles.’

  ‘But did not Claudius drive the Jews from Rome, because they werealways rioting at the instigation of one Chrestus? Indeed, I thoughtthey were called Chr_e_stians.’

  ‘They like to be called Chrestians,’ said Josephus, ‘as thoughthey were _chrestoi_, or excellent. But Christos is the Greek for“anointed,” and they use it for our Hebrew Messiah. It was not theJews who rioted in the days of Claudius, Emperor, but the sect ofChristians. Their Christus was crucified, thirty years ago, byPontius Pilatus. This Paulus of Tarsus is their chief man now.’

  ‘Paulus?’ said Nero.
‘I vaguely remember his being tried andacquitted a month ago. He seemed to me a harmless sort of man. Hespoke, as I remember, very eloquently. Agrippa, and Berenice, andFestus, and even Felix, spoke well of him.’

  ‘They are the enemies of our race,’ said the High Priest, ‘and theydeceive thee, O Emperor. It is this very Paulus who turns the worldupside down, and not only preaches against our holy law, but forbidsto pay tribute to Cæsar, and teaches men to worship Jesus as theirking.’

  ‘Do they dare to set up another king than Cæsar?’ exclaimed Nero,hotly. ‘This must be seen to.’

  ‘I have heard of them,’ said Poppæa. ‘It is they, and not the Jews,who hate the whole human race.’

  ‘I am sorry I let that Paulus go,’ said Nero. ‘Tigellinus, have youany complaints against these imprisoned priests?’

  ‘None,’ said Tigellinus; ‘they cost nothing, for they live chiefly onolives and figs.’

  ‘Then set them free this evening.’

  ‘We thank Cæsar for his goodness,’ said the High Priest, once moremaking a low obeisance; ‘and we hope that he will deign to accept ourpresent.’

  The present was a golden box, in which were many vials of rose-tintedalabaster, full of the most precious balsam of Jericho, which filledthe chamber with perfume as Josephus took it from an attendant slaveand laid it at Nero’s feet.

  ‘This shall be for Poppæa,’ said the Emperor, ‘and on her behalf Iwill send you a purple hanging for your Temple. I hope you will askIaô to be propitious to me.’

  They were ushered out, and no sooner had they left the room thanTigellinus rose, and impetuously exclaimed--‘I have it! Those Jewshave taught me the secret. Strange that it never occurred to mebefore.’

  ‘What is the secret, Præfect?’ asked Poppæa.

  ‘The Christians! we must accuse _them_ of being the incendiaries ofRome. Cæsar, dismiss your fears. The propitiated gods have found avictim, and the people will be satisfied.’

  Nero’s spirits instantly rose. ‘Excellent!’ he exclaimed; ‘and thanksto that handsome Rabbi for the hint; but who will tell us somethingmore about them?’

  ‘Aliturus will,’ said Poppæa. ‘As an actor he moves constantly amongthe people.’

  Aliturus had hardly left the Palace when he was summoned back tothe imperial conclave, and asked to tell what he knew about theChristians. He retailed all the vile calumnies which were current inantiquity about the ass-worship, the drinking of the blood of slainchildren, the promiscuous orgies of darkness, the deadly hatred toall mankind, the Thyestean banquets and ?'dipodean unions. He told allthese things because he had heard them from common report, and hadnever taken the trouble to ascertain the truth.

  ‘Have they any friends among the populace?’ asked the Præfect.

  ‘None,’ replied the actor. ‘The people hate them. They are foes toall pleasure: they will not enter a theatre. They spit when they passa temple; they turn away with horror from sacrifices. They hate wine,and will never wear a garland. They are morose misanthropes, devoutlybrutal, and capable of any crime.’

  ‘It would be a good thing to get rid of such enemies of gods and men,’said Tigellinus. ‘Do you think they could have been the authors ofthe late conflagration?’

  ‘It is more than possible,’ answered Aliturus. ‘I hear that theyoften talk about the burning up of the world.’

  ‘Yes,’ said Poppæa; ‘and the part of the city which has mostcompletely escaped being burned is the region across the Tiber wheremost of them live.’

  Nero clapped his hands with delight. ‘Suspicion all points in thatdirection,’ he said; ‘but how could we get evidence against them?’

  ‘It would not be easy, Cæsar. They meet in the most secret places,and have their watchwords.’

  ‘That looks bad,’ said Nero. ‘I do not like secret meetings.’

  ‘Could you not get into one of their assemblies and bribe some ofthem?’ asked Tigellinus.

  ‘I will try,’ said Aliturus, ‘if Cæsar wishes it. I can at any timedisguise myself and alter my face so that no one can recognise me;and I dare say some slave will find out their watchword for me.’

  ‘Manage this for us, Aliturus, and your reward shall be gold enoughto make you a rich man for life. I gave a senator’s property toMenecrates, the harpist, and a Consul’s patrimony to Spicillus, themirmillo, and a town-house and a villa to Paneros, the usurer. Cæsarknows how to reward with a princely hand those that serve him.’

  ‘Cæsar is a god,’ said the supple actor; ‘and Aliturus will not failhim.’